"I'm not going to tell you I'm not a little anxious with the change of the board. Anybody would be," Curran said before Monday's meeting. "But I don't see any cause for the board to look for a new town manager. I'm happy to work for the town, and I'm really interested in what's going on in this town and helping it be better than it already is.

"My door is always open to talk with every selectman," Curran added. "I work for the whole board, and I consider myself a professional and expect there to be a professional atmosphere on the board... I don't see any reason why I can't work with any of the board members.

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In addition to Rosa and Simolaris voting against the three-year deal, which included a 6 percent raise and up to a 9-month severance package, Piscatelli and Burns said during their election campaigns that they would have voted against the new contract terms.

That leaves only one current board member, Selectman Andrew Deslaurier, who supported Curran's new contract.

"The change makes you anxious because you're trying to anticipate what the next year will bring," Curran said on Monday.

"Obviously, it's all new so it can you make you a bit anxious. So we'll see."

Resident George Noel, chairman of the Billerica Democratic Town Committee, told the board that one of his major concerns is how the new board works with Curran. Noel, who supported Gagliardi and Accomando, said he urges selectmen to work harmoniously with the town manager.

"I hope you continue on that path," Noel said. "This town has so much potential, and I hope we can realize that potential."

Three incumbents, who were supporters of the town center and backed Curran, have now been defeated in the last two Billerica elections. As a result, Rosa, who advocated against the town-center project and Curran's new contract, became chairman Monday night.

In the last few months, Rosa had hammered the former chairman, Gagliardi, for his handling of Curran's contract talks, saying the appointment of the town-manager negotiating team and its meetings were "done in the most covert way to keep other members out of the loop and the public out of the loop."

On Monday, Rosa said the board will be transparent under his watch.

"In the next year, you have my commitment as a chair that the business of the town will be conducted in an open and transparent manner," Rosa said in his first comments at the helm, after being nominated by Deslaurier. "All members of the board will know what is going on."

Rosa added that his appointments will be announced at the board meetings, so members will have an opportunity to be asked for the appointment.

In late February, the Attorney General's Office ruled that the town-manager negotiating team, Gagliardi and Deslaurier, "conducted business without properly posting notice of its meeting in violation of the Open Meeting Law." However, the board took "appropriate remedial action" in response to the complaint, and no punishment resulted.

At his first meeting on Monday, Piscatelli also emphasized a transparent and inclusive process moving forward.

"I hope that the new attitude of our leadership and the improvement of the processes we expect to make very, very quickly will help us to attract even more great people to participate in the process," Piscatelli said.

"We want you to hold us accountable to make those process improvements and to move us forward and to do everything that we said we would do during the campaign," he added, speaking to a packed meeting room.

On Saturday, Piscatelli topped the ticket with 3,158 votes, and Burns garnered 2,856 votes for second place. Five candidates ran for two open seats.

Gagliardi received 1,646 votes on Saturday, and Accomando collected 1,711 votes. Challenger Rome Capobianco finished last in the five-way race with 570 votes.

At Monday's meeting, Burns stressed that the revamped board has provided an opportunity to "move Billerica forward."

"This new board is now a revitalized board, and the most exciting thing for the town is now we're going to have a unified board that is going to work on the issues to move us forward," Burns said.

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